To follow up on earlier reports that Pay Per View buyrates for TNA were at dangerously low levels, new reports are surfacing stating that both the May and June TNA PPV events (Sacrifice and Slammiversary) drew approximately 8,000 buys each.
In comparison, the company was averaging around 25,000 to 30,000 back in 2005/2006 when they had a Saturday night timeslot at 11:00 p.m. ET as opposed to a Thursday primetime slot. If the numbers are as accurate as stated, it would seem TNA is actually now losing money running these monthly events when you also factor in the costs of running a live PPV.
One theory was that more people are watching illegal streams of the events online. However, a source that monitors illegal PPV streams online has stated TNA averages about 30 to 50 streams with an average of 1,000 viewers total. Illegal streams for WWE events tend to average 60,000 viewers, while UFC (who has gone after those who illegally stream their events) average in excess of 200,000.